Coniston

In the heart of the English Lake District lies Coniston Village, alongside Coniston Water and underneath the majestic Coniston Fells of which Coniston Old Man, 2635ft, is the most famous. The area abounds with woods, crags and streams and is home to an abundance of wildlife such as red squirrels and herds of wild deer.

Coniston Village is welcoming warm and friendly, with traditional shops such as the village butcher, post office, grocer, newsagent, dairy, five pubs, several cafes and a restaurant. Together with the surrounding hamlets, it is an excellent centre for discovering the many and varied local activities and pastimes, or to just relax and enjoy the tremendous landscape of cascading waterfalls, streams, lakes and mountains. These make Coniston a famous centre for climbing and walking, with varied watersports, pony trekking and fishing, whilst the less agile can visit The Ruskin Museum in the village, or Victorian philosopher John Ruskin's period mansion across the lake at Brantwood.

Outdoor courses are readily available, many types of boats may be hired on the lake, and passengers are still enjoying the Victorian steam yacht Gondola, together with several traditional timber passenger launches. Donald Campbell chose Coniston Water for his World Water Speed Record achievements in his jet boat Bluebird, reaching over 300mph, which can now be seen in the village museum.

The Coniston fells can be walked directly from Rose Bank Cottage. Dow Crag provides some of the best rock climbing in Great Britain, whilst lake-shore walks to Torver are very popular.

Grizedale Forest is the ideal landscape for Mountain Biking, and together with Tarn Hows is great for dog walking.

Of course, Coniston is fairly central to the wider Lakeland area offering something for every interest and taste. Here are some of the places worth a visit within a short distance of Rose Bank cottage – Sawrey, Hawkshead, the Duddon Valley, Lowick, Broughton-Mills, The Lickle Valley, Langdale, Ambleside, Grasmere and Windermere.